Chest X-ray findings and severity score of patients with respiratory symptoms in COVID-19 intensive care unit of a teaching hospital

Background: Chest X-rays are important for tracking the progression of lung abnormalities, particularly in critically ill COVID-19 patients in the intensive care units (ICU). We aimed to assess correlation of chest X-ray findings with the COVID-19 disease severity and outcome. Methods: This prospective observational study was conducted at B & C Teaching Hospital, Birtamode from 15 March to 15 July 2021. All diagnosed COVID-19 patients admitted in the ICU for respiratory distress with oxygen saturation < 90% and evaluated by portable X-rays were enrolled. The radiographic findings were evaluated for the distribution and patterns of affection, and the total severity score was calculated using RALE scales of 0 - 8 and Brixia scales of 0 - 18. The scores were then compared between the expired and improved patients. Results: The age of patients (mean +or- SD) was 48.2 +or- 13.84 years. During the first four days of hospitalization, there was no significant difference in Brixia score (p = 0.793) or RALE score (p = 0.842) between expired and improved patients. The differences in both (Brixia and RALE) scores grew with each passing day (p < 0.05). The Brixia and RALE severity scores had a strong positive correlation at various stages of disease in both expired and improved patients. (r > 0.75, p < 0.001). Conclusion: In resource limited setting, the severity scores (RALE or Brixia) can be used as a quantitative method of the extent of COVID-19 pneumonia, correlating with an increased risk of ICU admission.

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Academic Activities of Academicians in Nepal

This study explored the academic activities of academicians during the COVID-19 pandemic in Nepal. An online questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data from 361 academicians about changes in academic and extracurricular activities. The findings showed that the majority of participants (69% and 72%) agreed that both academic and extracurricular activities, respectively, were adversely affected by the lockdown during the pandemic. The results also showed that the study hours, sleeping hours, and social networking increased while concentration on academic activities decreased during the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Early-career international academics' learning and teaching experiences during COVID-19 in Australia: A collaborative autoethnography

Scholarly articles on international academics mainly focuses on personal and professional challenges endured by international academics' during conventional times. This includes adjustments to new roles and living in a foreign country, pedagogical differences stemming from intercultural differences, language barriers and unequal access to resources (funding, exploitation). This paper explores experiences of two international early-career academics in Australia highlighting their teaching-related challenges, strategies and opportunities during COVID-19, using a collaborative autoethnography qualitative approach. At this Australian university, teaching was paused for a week in March 2020 to cope with the learning and teaching 'shock' - to reorientate teaching from face-to-face to completely offer courses remotely to ensure that students were not disadvantaged in their learning and provide space for academic staff to reorientate their learning and teaching materials to suit online delivery. Personalised reflections encapsulate some bizarre teaching related experiences of these international academics in the online learning and teaching space, underpinned by their cultural differences. There were four major challenges identified: transition to online learning and teaching, learning and teaching online practices, relationship issues between students and academic staff, and language-related issues. Specific strategies to overcome these challenges are also identified that led to overall teaching success endured by these international early-career academics in Australia.

Sensor and IoT-Based Belt to Detect Distance and Temperature of COVID-19 Suspect

Owing to the pandemic issue of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), it is imperative to keep up more than 1-m of social distancing and 37.5 °C temperature to stop the transmission of COVID-19 from human to human. Therefore, it is utmost requirement to make the smart belt installed with ultrasonic and LM35 sensors for distance and temperature measurements to reduce the transmission of COVID-19, respectively. The embedded sensors with NodeMCU show that once anything come in the proximity of 1-m near to the smart belt or helmet fixed to human body, it automatically makes an alarm for distance contact as well as temperature of incoming/outgoing body and sends an email to the controller with the help of Blynk application through Internet of things (IoT). These data can be stored in the cloud for the future purpose. However, the distance sensor has detected the movement of a person from 3 cm up to around 240 cm. The LM35 temperature sensor measures the actual temperature of the host body, i.e., 35.4 °C with time. With the help of this research, it is possible to interface a camera module which can detect the suspects. It could be interfaced with global positioning system (GPS) which can give location-wise data and help us to obtain the probability of suspects at a particular region. It is cost effective, i.e., $14/belt which can help to control the transmission of coronavirus from human to human. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.